How do I confirm there is a hidden water leak?
Shut off every fixture and appliance that uses water (toilets, ice maker, irrigation, washing machine) and check the water meter. Write down the exact reading, wait 30 to 60 minutes without using any water, and check it again. Any movement at all means a leak. If the meter has a small triangular or red dial indicator, watch it for two minutes; if it spins, water is flowing somewhere it shouldn't.
Step by step: the water meter test
- Turn off all water in the house and yard: every faucet, the dishwasher, washer, ice maker, sprinklers, and any pool or fountain auto-fill. Make sure no toilet is refilling.
- Find your water meter (usually in a curbside box or at the front of the property).
- Note the reading on the meter.
- Wait 30 to 60 minutes without using any water.
- Read the meter again.
If the meter changed at all, even a tiny amount, you have a leak somewhere. The amount of change tells you roughly the size: a change of a few units points to a small leak, and a large change points to a serious one.
Narrow it down: Close the main shut-off at the house and watch the meter again. If it still moves, the leak is in the line between the meter and the house (or in the sprinkler lines). If it stops, the leak is inside: dye-test the toilets, look under sinks and around the water heater, and feel the floors for warm or damp spots.
Can't find it? Call (909) 312-4516 or text (909) 247-6791. Sweetwater uses professional leak detection to pinpoint hidden leaks under the slab or in walls before anything gets opened up.
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